From Quake onward id hasn't been playing in the fields of game design, they've been playing in the fields of engine design. Quake, Quake2, and Quake 3 were good games and good successes for id. Let me think a moment, what was made with the Quake engine? Hexen, Heritec II? I dunno...something like that. The Half-Life engine is based on the Quake2 engine. Quake3 powers Alice, the Star-Trek Voyager game, Jedi Outcast, and a bunch of others.
id knows what they're doing, and it isn't making deep storylines. It's making the technology so others can focus on the story.
Re:AMD's heatsink problem?
on
AthlonXP Released
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Umm...if you're heat sink falls off, you have one of the following problems:
You're and idiot and installed it wrong in the first place.
You're system vendor is an idiot and installed it worng in the first place.
You're motherboard is made of cheap materals
You forced something didn't you (see 1)
There is no good reason for your heat sink to just fall off.
This would be an interesting study thing. Take a wars death toll (on both sides) compare vs world population and see what patterns emerge. As technolog advances, how does the percentage of population loss fluctuate?
Far more variables than I'd like to calculate, but it would make for in interesting study.
The article does have some good points, IMO. But why not take it a step further. MS has the Windows Stamp of approval that goes to software as long as the software follows certin guidlines. By following these guidlines, developers know that their software will run on the Windows platform and the users know before buying the product. (This is very important with Win NT and 2000 actually.)
Anyway, perhaps one of these guidlines should be that the installer registers what file types it is capible of handling. This is different from registering it as the default viewer.
Then, all MS would have to do is create, say, a control panel applet for the file types. Shouldn't be too hard. It would present you with a file type (sorted into say, images, video, audio, documents, etc...) and what applications are able to handle that file type. Then you just select the program you want from the list that support it, instead of having to remember what program views what.
Go a bit firther and require installers to prompt before changing and you should be set.
This would be an improvment to the current setup, and I can't imagine that the talented Windows developers (they have to have some talent, the OS does run rather decently...) could do with the next service pack.
You're right, you can't really tell the same story since the audience has already seen the Matrix and Neo has become what he was destined to be.
Why not? DBZ manages to pull off constipated fighters every episode.I'm a super Saiyan! No wait, I'm an Ascended Saiyan! No wait, not I have this lightning thing going on around me...not I grunt and groan like I'm constipated and I'll have even more power...
If the writers for DBZ can keep it going, I'm sure the Matrix writers will find a way.
(Some of the Frezia scenes are really darn funny when you pretend he's grunting because he's constipated. Try it some time.)
Re:The Palm is already dying
on
Pocket PC 2002
·
· Score: 2
by Anonymous Coward
Microsoft do not win the numbers game against PS2. They have about 68% more RAM, true, but their fillrate is about 80% less and their poly rate is about 50% less. X-Box draws prettier polygons at the expense of having far, far fewer of them.
PS2's embedded VRAM might be a bitch to code to, but it provides around 48G/s of bandwidth. The X-Box's UMA provides around 6G/s of bandwidth which is shared between the GPU and CPU. Microsoft are numbers game losers [unless you read their marketing reports instead of the indepednent side-by-side comparisons].
You are exactly right. They didn't win the numbers game, but they applied makreting spin to make it look like they did. And that's what they put on the box. You don't actually thing Joe Sixpack gets on the net and looks for an impartical comparison do you? Nah, just compare the numbers on the box.
That is why MS plays check box marketing. Look, our OS has these featers, the other guys don't!
To Joe Sixpack, the PSX2 has no Video Memory compared to the Xbox. But maybe MS did it right by making their hardware "easy" to code for instead of, as you put it, a bitch to code for. And maybe Sony did it right. There is really no good answer to it, as you get into an argument not unlike PC vs Mac, apples vs oranges...etc.
Re:The Palm is already dying
on
Pocket PC 2002
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It's called check box marketing. And MS is really good at it.
IE:
Comparison:PocketPC | Palm
Processor: 200Mhz | 16Mhz
Color: 16bit | Grayscale
Screen Size
Memory 64mb | 8mb
etc. etc. etc...
They do it with Xbox VS. PSX2 too. In the numbers game, MS wins. (Except for battery life.)
May as well mod me as redundant, cause I've said this before.:)
No, I want to use the 2.2.x kernels, 2.2.19 exactly. The problem is that Debian's installer for Potato is a 2.2.17pre7 (or something like that....), and I didn't have good luck getting the onboard controller to work durring the install.
Also, at the time I was doing this perticular install, 2.2.17 was the very latest kernel. The only way the onboard controller would work was with the latest netdrivers package from Scyld
This has all been rectified now with newer kernels, but if your installer uses an older kernel you're looking at updating the installer or finding a different NIC for the install. (Unless you're using a CD or Modem for install, I do network installs, so I need a working NIC during install.)
Other than that, I haven't had too much trouble with them other than the Windows 2000 bug and having them not respond to WOL (Wake On Lan) requests, even though WOL was enabled.
NOt only did you get the dual athlons, you got dual 3com NICs, Adaptec 7899W dual channel Ultra160 SCSI controller (dual channel!), onboard ATI RageXL graphics. Add all that up as seperate components, and the board doesn't look that expensive. Espically when you have all that hardware and still have 5 ? 64-bit/33MHz PCI slots (backwards compatible with 32-bit/33MHz PCI devices).
Overall, the board is competitive to server board offerings from Intel. I haven't been overly impressed with the onboard 3com nics however. Installing linux can be a chore as they don't always work except on the latest 2.2 kernels. The drivers included in Windows 2000 for these cards have a few bugs in them as well. In both cases it's fixable by driver/kernel updates, but could present an issue during installation.
And the problems I've had with the onboard 3com's have been on Dell motherboards anyway.:)
Anyone have links to resoultions/bills/etc. that Congress has actually passed/put on the floor/whatever? I came up empty handed last time this was up on Slashdot.
Hmmm...you know...there's like no country music on that list? I know ClearChannel owns one of the local Country stations. OK, not my main point.
One of the other ClearChannel stations has the ad for their morning show right next to the WTC news:
"Here's what's happened today!" in bright cheery yellow. Smooth people.(Cities 97
Radio in the twin cities sucks. ClearChannel or Infinity, or public radio. Joy.
Sega Channel maybe? It was a game cartrige that plugged into your Sega unit and...suprise...your local cable network. Subscribe to Sega channel and you could play lots of Sega games any time you wanted to. Lemme think now...this was what? Very early nineties? Talk about being ahead of the times.:)
So what was it NASA sent to Mars again? Have a dictionary.com definition of robot:
robot (rbt, -bt)
n.
1. A mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks on command or by being programmed in advance.
2. A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.
3. A person who works mechanically without original thought, especially one who responds automatically to the commands of others.
I'd say the vehicles on Battle Bots qualify. Now if you think AI design is easy, why don't you go program one?
It's not so much the OS upgrade that's a good move, it's getting the components that you need to compete with PocketPC and their check box marketing. (ie...a side by side comparsion of a PocketPC and a Palm, showing that the PocketPC has a faster processor, more colors, more memory, etc. and leaves out the good featurs of Palm like incredible battery life, a decent/innovative interface for wireless devices, and applications up the wazoo. Do you really need streaming video to your Palm?
MS uses this same check box marketing scheme with Xbox vs. PSX2. Look, we have more video memory and processors, etc. Nevermind that we're dealing with completely different archecuter designs.
Shutting off IIS on an comprimised box...
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 2
All it should take is sending a request like this:
http://infected.host/scripts/root.exe?/c+start%%20 net%20stop%20ServiceName+c:\\
Figure out what the service name for IIS is and you can make it do a clean belly flop. No real damage done.
A full list of the exact services is found in the registry (run regedit.exe) under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es key.
Other things you could stop are Server and Workstation, and Maybe Simple TCP/IP Services. There is plenty you can do to a NT box with just the command line. And it starts getting really fun after you install the NT resource kit.
I know more than I ever wanted to know about NT...
Well, at lease AOL-Time Warner cable seems to have their act together. Which is more than I can say for MediaOne, err, AT&T Broadband, err, AT&T@Home, ummm...whatever...who has the other side of the Minneapolis Metro. And good luck getting a DSL line from Qwest in a timely manner, but that won't stop them from ramming "DSL is great!" down your throat every chance they get.
Anyway, AOL-Time Warner's RoadRunner service routes better for AT&T (excelent pings to my co-lo box on TW, just OK from AT&T), lets me grab up to 5ips (AT&T limits you to 1 unless you pay $10 more a month for 3 ips.), and it's just been a good experience overall.
Of all the offerings in Minneapolis, AOLTW does seem to be the one that got it right. AT&T changes their routing and name every other mounth, and Qwest still has the US West legacy. AOLTW just merged and took RoadRunner away from AT&T.
Being someone who is not up to speed on Palm's and eBooks, what reader are you using? Peanut? I've only looked breifly at Peanut Press, and the eBook offerings from Barnes and Nobel and Amazon, and haven't really found anything interesting. Knowing I could read a few good titles on a Palm might just be able to push me past the "maybe I'll wait for the ARM based palms." mentality.
Unofficial TLD's are out there. I use a few myself for my internal networks. What's to stop a motivated group of enthusiasts from creating.kids on their own? Register dotkids.info or something to tell partents to encourage their ISP's to add their root servers to the ISP's bind configs. Wasn't one of the new TLD suggestions rejected because there was a group who was doing exactly that, running their own root servers? So many groups want a kid friendly zone, but they don't have the balls to make and enforce one? (enforcement is the real tricky part...)
If I sould half assed, your wrong. Quarter assed would be a better assesment of what I know about TLDs and the root name servers...
What happens if someone steals your car and causes a fatal accident with it?
Given my car, it's quite likely the theif was the one who died.
What happens if a child finds the gun you left in your dresser and shoots himself?
He'll be very very wet or hit by a paint ball.
What happens if someone breaks into your house, trips over something and breaks a leg?
Not only will they have a broken leg, they'll be covered in doggie drool. So with a broken leg and buckets of doggie drool, they'll be searching for the missing portable phone. And if all he broke was his leg, he's lucky. There's lots of stuff to trip over in my house.
Don't have a scanner handy, but I have a copy on my desk:
Dear $WHOEVER,
Many people do not know they are using unlicensed software and that it's a violation of copyright law. The Business Software Alliance is currently targeting businesses in the $YOURCITY. If your company is using unlicensed software, it could become the focus of a BSA investigation.
The BSA - an association comprised of Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Macromedia, Microsoft, Symantec, and UGS - works to educate teh public on the importance of software compliance and to enforce intellectual property rights.
The BSA is calling a Truce. You have until $ENDDATE to get legal.
The BSA is offering a Software Truce in Newnan between $STARTDATE and $ENDDATE. Please take this time to review your software installations and usage and, if necessary, acquire the licenses you need. If your organization becumes fully licensed during the Truce, BSA will not seek to impose penalties for any unauthorized copying that occurred before $ENDDATE (unless your organizations has already been informed that it is under investigation). If the BSA contacts you, just show your Truce Participation Number and software purchase receipts to take advantage of the Truce. [Please see reverse side for terms.] Unauthorized copying is the same as stealing. If you're caught, your organization could face penalties totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Not sure if you're fully licensed? BSA can help you find out
Trying to determine whether your organizatio is using illegal software? Visit BSA's web site at www.bsatruce.com for more information and to download our free Software Audit tool, or call our special Truce hotline at 1-877-536-4BSA (1-800-536-4272). If ou find that you aren't 100% locensed, contact your software vendor immediately and but the software licenses you need before the Truce ends on $ENDDATE.
Sincerly,
Bob Kruger
Vice President
Business Software Alliance
It's been said by many many times: Linux makes an excellent antivirus tool. Why? Well, because...it's Linux. But really, because of it's immunity to viruses in the first place. (Let's ignore the spread of things like ramen as they work differently than Outlook Transmitted Diseases (OTDs))
Linux as you mail server? Check out Enhancing E-Mail Security With Procmail to send this nasty crap to/dev/null automatically. If the user can't run it in the first place...
How about taking it a step further and having you Linux box scan all incoming e-mail for virisus? See Amavis and others
If you're using Linux as your file server, invest in some linux based antivirus software. Let linux scan away at your uses Windows files and keep them virus free using an OS they can't infect in the first place.
If you're a network admin, and you don't take counter measures from preventing your users from infecting themselves and others, your a part of the problem as the virus writer. Educate your users, use counter measure that prevent your users from getting the virus in the first place, etc. etc. etc.
Firts, thanks to Katz for having an opinion that is actually his own and not born of the group mentality every now and then.
I liked the movie myself. Generally disliked the character animations. They reminded me of Blizzard's. Dummies that got a breath of light but didn't oil their joints. The characters were not fluid at all, Mainframe make the Transformers look more fluid than these characters.
But this movie would not have worked at all if it was doen with real actors. The visual effects would have make the real actors seem completely out of place. So even though the characters looked great but moved like the Tin Man, they fit in with the world they inhabited.
The story was so-so. Mad general with loyal following who wants nothing more than to blow stuff up out of revenge, scientests who just know that blowing stuff up will destroy the world.
The main flaw with the story is that they had potential for a deep story, but they took a shallow sweep of a deep lake and only got the very top, freshest, smelliest stuff.
What exactly are the spirits? Life energies? Souls? Some sort of collective? A gift from Gia? Why are there only eight of them? What could you have done with your almost romantic sub plot/comic relief characters if you didn't kill them? Just how mad is this general and why didn't you animate some of his backstory to give him more depth?
Overall, this movie would have been better as say, a one season mini-series. The animation was great, and was the correct choice for the story. I'd give it an average over all. It didn't totally suck, but it didn't live up to what it could have been.
Say, if my local newspaper offered a full online version for the same subscription fee as the daily paper, I'd pay it as long as they stopped doing what they do now to their online version: Strip all pictures and only show a selection of stories.
But you have to address the archived issues. Those should always be free and searchable, and damnit, don't go changing the URL's every 3-6 months.
Now if you want bonus points, also provide a version that I can load onto my Palm, e-book reader, or other hand held device.
The bottom line is, if I'm going to pay for it, it has to be worth it. Think, value added services.
Now, if a site like CNN made you say, give them your cable company account number to access their full content, that wouldn't be a bad idea either. They could raise their rates to the cable company. (I'm on Time Warner, so this wouldn't be reflected in my bills all that much...)
Do some IP checking, oh, you're an.edu, full access to you. Our gift. Oh, you're a road runner or AOL customer trying to access an AOL Time Warner site, full access for you too! Anyone else, here is our subscription rate.
Yes, it's not the most solid or feasable business model, advanced users can forward and reroute traffic, and I'm not claming it's a good idea, but it's something.
Slashdot Mirror
From Quake onward id hasn't been playing in the fields of game design, they've been playing in the fields of engine design. Quake, Quake2, and Quake 3 were good games and good successes for id. Let me think a moment, what was made with the Quake engine? Hexen, Heritec II? I dunno...something like that. The Half-Life engine is based on the Quake2 engine. Quake3 powers Alice, the Star-Trek Voyager game, Jedi Outcast, and a bunch of others.
id knows what they're doing, and it isn't making deep storylines. It's making the technology so others can focus on the story.
You're and idiot and installed it wrong in the first place.
You're system vendor is an idiot and installed it worng in the first place.
You're motherboard is made of cheap materals
You forced something didn't you (see 1)
There is no good reason for your heat sink to just fall off.
This would be an interesting study thing. Take a wars death toll (on both sides) compare vs world population and see what patterns emerge. As technolog advances, how does the percentage of population loss fluctuate?
Far more variables than I'd like to calculate, but it would make for in interesting study.
The article does have some good points, IMO. But why not take it a step further. MS has the Windows Stamp of approval that goes to software as long as the software follows certin guidlines. By following these guidlines, developers know that their software will run on the Windows platform and the users know before buying the product. (This is very important with Win NT and 2000 actually.)
Anyway, perhaps one of these guidlines should be that the installer registers what file types it is capible of handling. This is different from registering it as the default viewer.
Then, all MS would have to do is create, say, a control panel applet for the file types. Shouldn't be too hard. It would present you with a file type (sorted into say, images, video, audio, documents, etc...) and what applications are able to handle that file type. Then you just select the program you want from the list that support it, instead of having to remember what program views what.
Go a bit firther and require installers to prompt before changing and you should be set.
This would be an improvment to the current setup, and I can't imagine that the talented Windows developers (they have to have some talent, the OS does run rather decently...) could do with the next service pack.
You're right, you can't really tell the same story since the audience has already seen the Matrix and Neo has become what he was destined to be.
Why not? DBZ manages to pull off constipated fighters every episode.I'm a super Saiyan! No wait, I'm an Ascended Saiyan! No wait, not I have this lightning thing going on around me...not I grunt and groan like I'm constipated and I'll have even more power...
If the writers for DBZ can keep it going, I'm sure the Matrix writers will find a way.
(Some of the Frezia scenes are really darn funny when you pretend he's grunting because he's constipated. Try it some time.)
by Anonymous Coward
Microsoft do not win the numbers game against PS2. They have about 68% more RAM, true, but their fillrate is about 80% less and their poly rate is about 50% less. X-Box draws prettier polygons at the expense of having far, far fewer of them.
PS2's embedded VRAM might be a bitch to code to, but it provides around 48G/s of bandwidth. The X-Box's UMA provides around 6G/s of bandwidth which is shared between the GPU and CPU. Microsoft are numbers game losers [unless you read their marketing reports instead of the indepednent side-by-side comparisons].
You are exactly right. They didn't win the numbers game, but they applied makreting spin to make it look like they did. And that's what they put on the box. You don't actually thing Joe Sixpack gets on the net and looks for an impartical comparison do you? Nah, just compare the numbers on the box.
That is why MS plays check box marketing. Look, our OS has these featers, the other guys don't!
To Joe Sixpack, the PSX2 has no Video Memory compared to the Xbox. But maybe MS did it right by making their hardware "easy" to code for instead of, as you put it, a bitch to code for. And maybe Sony did it right. There is really no good answer to it, as you get into an argument not unlike PC vs Mac, apples vs oranges...etc.
It's called check box marketing. And MS is really good at it.
:)
IE:
Comparison:PocketPC | Palm
Processor: 200Mhz | 16Mhz
Color: 16bit | Grayscale
Screen Size
Memory 64mb | 8mb
etc. etc. etc...
They do it with Xbox VS. PSX2 too. In the numbers game, MS wins. (Except for battery life.)
May as well mod me as redundant, cause I've said this before.
You're obviously not the target for the Thunder board then are you? These boards are very competitive with Intel's server board offerings.
No, I want to use the 2.2.x kernels, 2.2.19 exactly. The problem is that Debian's installer for Potato is a 2.2.17pre7 (or something like that....), and I didn't have good luck getting the onboard controller to work durring the install.
Also, at the time I was doing this perticular install, 2.2.17 was the very latest kernel. The only way the onboard controller would work was with the latest netdrivers package from Scyld
This has all been rectified now with newer kernels, but if your installer uses an older kernel you're looking at updating the installer or finding a different NIC for the install. (Unless you're using a CD or Modem for install, I do network installs, so I need a working NIC during install.)
Other than that, I haven't had too much trouble with them other than the Windows 2000 bug and having them not respond to WOL (Wake On Lan) requests, even though WOL was enabled.
NOt only did you get the dual athlons, you got dual 3com NICs, Adaptec 7899W dual channel Ultra160 SCSI controller (dual channel!), onboard ATI RageXL graphics. Add all that up as seperate components, and the board doesn't look that expensive. Espically when you have all that hardware and still have 5 ? 64-bit/33MHz PCI slots (backwards compatible with 32-bit/33MHz PCI devices).
:)
Overall, the board is competitive to server board offerings from Intel. I haven't been overly impressed with the onboard 3com nics however. Installing linux can be a chore as they don't always work except on the latest 2.2 kernels. The drivers included in Windows 2000 for these cards have a few bugs in them as well. In both cases it's fixable by driver/kernel updates, but could present an issue during installation.
And the problems I've had with the onboard 3com's have been on Dell motherboards anyway.
Anyone have links to resoultions/bills/etc. that Congress has actually passed/put on the floor/whatever? I came up empty handed last time this was up on Slashdot.
Hmmm...you know...there's like no country music on that list? I know ClearChannel owns one of the local Country stations. OK, not my main point.
One of the other ClearChannel stations has the ad for their morning show right next to the WTC news:
"Here's what's happened today!" in bright cheery yellow. Smooth people.(Cities 97
Radio in the twin cities sucks. ClearChannel or Infinity, or public radio. Joy.
Sega Channel maybe? It was a game cartrige that plugged into your Sega unit and...suprise...your local cable network. Subscribe to Sega channel and you could play lots of Sega games any time you wanted to. Lemme think now...this was what? Very early nineties? Talk about being ahead of the times. :)
So what was it NASA sent to Mars again? Have a dictionary.com definition of
robot:
robot (rbt, -bt)
n.
1. A mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks on command or by being programmed in advance.
2. A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.
3. A person who works mechanically without original thought, especially one who responds automatically to the commands of others.
I'd say the vehicles on Battle Bots qualify. Now if you think AI design is easy, why don't you go program one?
It's not so much the OS upgrade that's a good move, it's getting the components that you need to compete with PocketPC and their check box marketing. (ie...a side by side comparsion of a PocketPC and a Palm, showing that the PocketPC has a faster processor, more colors, more memory, etc. and leaves out the good featurs of Palm like incredible battery life, a decent/innovative interface for wireless devices, and applications up the wazoo. Do you really need streaming video to your Palm?
MS uses this same check box marketing scheme with Xbox vs. PSX2. Look, we have more video memory and processors, etc. Nevermind that we're dealing with completely different archecuter designs.
All it should take is sending a request like this: http://infected.host/scripts/root.exe?/c+start%%20 net%20stop%20ServiceName+c:\\
c es key.
Figure out what the service name for IIS is and you can make it do a clean belly flop. No real damage done.
A full list of the exact services is found in the registry (run regedit.exe) under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servi
Other things you could stop are Server and Workstation, and Maybe Simple TCP/IP Services. There is plenty you can do to a NT box with just the command line. And it starts getting really fun after you install the NT resource kit.
I know more than I ever wanted to know about NT...
Well, at lease AOL-Time Warner cable seems to have their act together. Which is more than I can say for MediaOne, err, AT&T Broadband, err, AT&T@Home, ummm...whatever...who has the other side of the Minneapolis Metro. And good luck getting a DSL line from Qwest in a timely manner, but that won't stop them from ramming "DSL is great!" down your throat every chance they get.
Anyway, AOL-Time Warner's RoadRunner service routes better for AT&T (excelent pings to my co-lo box on TW, just OK from AT&T), lets me grab up to 5ips (AT&T limits you to 1 unless you pay $10 more a month for 3 ips.), and it's just been a good experience overall.
Of all the offerings in Minneapolis, AOLTW does seem to be the one that got it right. AT&T changes their routing and name every other mounth, and Qwest still has the US West legacy. AOLTW just merged and took RoadRunner away from AT&T.
Being someone who is not up to speed on Palm's and eBooks, what reader are you using? Peanut? I've only looked breifly at Peanut Press, and the eBook offerings from Barnes and Nobel and Amazon, and haven't really found anything interesting. Knowing I could read a few good titles on a Palm might just be able to push me past the "maybe I'll wait for the ARM based palms." mentality.
Unofficial TLD's are out there. I use a few myself for my internal networks. What's to stop a motivated group of enthusiasts from creating .kids on their own? Register dotkids.info or something to tell partents to encourage their ISP's to add their root servers to the ISP's bind configs. Wasn't one of the new TLD suggestions rejected because there was a group who was doing exactly that, running their own root servers? So many groups want a kid friendly zone, but they don't have the balls to make and enforce one? (enforcement is the real tricky part...)
If I sould half assed, your wrong. Quarter assed would be a better assesment of what I know about TLDs and the root name servers...
What happens if someone steals your car and causes a fatal accident with it? Given my car, it's quite likely the theif was the one who died.
What happens if a child finds the gun you left in your dresser and shoots himself?
He'll be very very wet or hit by a paint ball.
What happens if someone breaks into your house, trips over something and breaks a leg?
Not only will they have a broken leg, they'll be covered in doggie drool. So with a broken leg and buckets of doggie drool, they'll be searching for the missing portable phone. And if all he broke was his leg, he's lucky. There's lots of stuff to trip over in my house.
Dear $WHOEVER,
Many people do not know they are using unlicensed software and that it's a violation of copyright law. The Business Software Alliance is currently targeting businesses in the $YOURCITY. If your company is using unlicensed software, it could become the focus of a BSA investigation.
The BSA - an association comprised of Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Macromedia, Microsoft, Symantec, and UGS - works to educate teh public on the importance of software compliance and to enforce intellectual property rights.
The BSA is calling a Truce. You have until $ENDDATE to get legal.
The BSA is offering a Software Truce in Newnan between $STARTDATE and $ENDDATE. Please take this time to review your software installations and usage and, if necessary, acquire the licenses you need. If your organization becumes fully licensed during the Truce, BSA will not seek to impose penalties for any unauthorized copying that occurred before $ENDDATE (unless your organizations has already been informed that it is under investigation). If the BSA contacts you, just show your Truce Participation Number and software purchase receipts to take advantage of the Truce. [Please see reverse side for terms.] Unauthorized copying is the same as stealing. If you're caught, your organization could face penalties totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Not sure if you're fully licensed? BSA can help you find out
Trying to determine whether your organizatio is using illegal software? Visit BSA's web site at www.bsatruce.com for more information and to download our free Software Audit tool, or call our special Truce hotline at 1-877-536-4BSA (1-800-536-4272). If ou find that you aren't 100% locensed, contact your software vendor immediately and but the software licenses you need before the Truce ends on $ENDDATE.
Sincerly,
Bob Kruger
Vice President
Business Software Alliance
It's been said by many many times: Linux makes an excellent antivirus tool. Why? Well, because...it's Linux. But really, because of it's immunity to viruses in the first place. (Let's ignore the spread of things like ramen as they work differently than Outlook Transmitted Diseases (OTDs))
/dev/null automatically. If the user can't run it in the first place...
Linux as you mail server? Check out Enhancing E-Mail Security With Procmail to send this nasty crap to
How about taking it a step further and having you Linux box scan all incoming e-mail for virisus? See Amavis and others
If you're using Linux as your file server, invest in some linux based antivirus software. Let linux scan away at your uses Windows files and keep them virus free using an OS they can't infect in the first place.
If you're a network admin, and you don't take counter measures from preventing your users from infecting themselves and others, your a part of the problem as the virus writer. Educate your users, use counter measure that prevent your users from getting the virus in the first place, etc. etc. etc.
Firts, thanks to Katz for having an opinion that is actually his own and not born of the group mentality every now and then.
I liked the movie myself. Generally disliked the character animations. They reminded me of Blizzard's. Dummies that got a breath of light but didn't oil their joints. The characters were not fluid at all, Mainframe make the Transformers look more fluid than these characters.
But this movie would not have worked at all if it was doen with real actors. The visual effects would have make the real actors seem completely out of place. So even though the characters looked great but moved like the Tin Man, they fit in with the world they inhabited.
The story was so-so. Mad general with loyal following who wants nothing more than to blow stuff up out of revenge, scientests who just know that blowing stuff up will destroy the world.
The main flaw with the story is that they had potential for a deep story, but they took a shallow sweep of a deep lake and only got the very top, freshest, smelliest stuff.
What exactly are the spirits? Life energies? Souls? Some sort of collective? A gift from Gia? Why are there only eight of them? What could you have done with your almost romantic sub plot/comic relief characters if you didn't kill them? Just how mad is this general and why didn't you animate some of his backstory to give him more depth?
Overall, this movie would have been better as say, a one season mini-series. The animation was great, and was the correct choice for the story. I'd give it an average over all. It didn't totally suck, but it didn't live up to what it could have been.
Ok, can anyone pull, of the top of their head, a site that still uses ActiveX components over Java, Flash, ?
Say, if my local newspaper offered a full online version for the same subscription fee as the daily paper, I'd pay it as long as they stopped doing what they do now to their online version: Strip all pictures and only show a selection of stories.
.edu, full access to you. Our gift. Oh, you're a road runner or AOL customer trying to access an AOL Time Warner site, full access for you too! Anyone else, here is our subscription rate.
But you have to address the archived issues. Those should always be free and searchable, and damnit, don't go changing the URL's every 3-6 months.
Now if you want bonus points, also provide a version that I can load onto my Palm, e-book reader, or other hand held device.
The bottom line is, if I'm going to pay for it, it has to be worth it. Think, value added services.
Now, if a site like CNN made you say, give them your cable company account number to access their full content, that wouldn't be a bad idea either. They could raise their rates to the cable company. (I'm on Time Warner, so this wouldn't be reflected in my bills all that much...)
Do some IP checking, oh, you're an
Yes, it's not the most solid or feasable business model, advanced users can forward and reroute traffic, and I'm not claming it's a good idea, but it's something.
Anyway, I'm done talking outta my ass for now.